The Abused and Unwanted Weasley

Chapter Eighteen: The Champions and the First Task

The next week flew by rather quickly, classes becoming a blur. It's not that I struggled with my classes it's just that everything was going so easily. I hardly saw Ginny anymore except when she hung out with Harry, which wasn't that often anymore. Ron wasn't bothering me that much anymore thanks to Alec Draco and Luffy. Luffy was walking with me to dinner on Halloween. Tonight it would be revealed the champions for each school. Luffy was bouncing on his feet in excitement. "I hope I'm chosen." He said, holding my hand tightly. "I know that you'll win if you do." I said, smiling at him. We walked into the great hall towards the table. I saw Ginny sitting next to Harry, glaring at me and Luffy. I blushed and let go of his hand as we sat down. We began to eat and once we were done Dumbledore and several other men, including the Minister, stood up. "Now, it is time for the champions to be decided." Dumbledore said, walking towards the goblet. When he stepped inside the circle a slip of paper flew out into his open hand. "The champion for Durmstrang is Victor Krum!" Dumbledore yelled. There was a loud cheer from the red wearing males at the Slytherin table and the man with the curly beard smiled from the teachers table. After the cheers died down Dumbledore held up his hand again. Another paper flew out. "For Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour!" He yelled. The girls in the soft blue uniforms cheered for their friend. "And finally for Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory!" The Hufflepuff table let out a cheer and so did some of the other students. Dumbledore smiled and waved his hand, but the goblet didn't go out. Instead another slip spat itself out. Dumbledore read it out loud. "Harry Potter!" Everyone was in shock, but then the goblet spit out one more slip. Dumbledore gave me a sad look as he read it. "Victoria Peverell!"

I was rushed into a room with the other champions, the heads of the schools, the Minister and another ministry man and several teachers, including my mom. I immediately rushed into her arms and let out a sob. Dumbledore looked at Harry and I. "Did you two put your names in the goblet?" "No, I didn't." Harry said, sounding as shaken as I felt. I quickly shook my head. "She didn't. She didn't even want Luffy to enter." Mom said. "Well it isn't fair that Hogwarts gets three champions." The bearded man said. "Yes. Karkaroff is right. We should continue to draw until we all have three." Madame Maxine said. "Unfortunately that cannot be done." A mustached man said. "The goblet has gone out and will not light again until the next Triwizard tournament." "Then we can't let Potter and Peverell compete. They're just children." Professor McGonagall said. The mustached man looked at her sadly, then at Harry and I. "Unfortunately we cannot do that either. The goblet chose them. They are competitors of the Triwizard tournament."

Mom walked Harry and I back to the common room where there was a large crowd of people waiting for us. "Nice job you two!" Dean Thomas said, smiling at us, well especially me. This made Ginny glare at me. "I'm going to bed." I said, running up to my room. Hermione and Claire were waiting for me. I walked over to my bed and sat down, clinging to Serafina as I shook. "Victoria?" Hermione asked quietly, sitting besides me and rubbing my back. "I didn't want this." I sobbed. Claire walked over and hugged me. "It'll be okay. We'll help you through this." She said.

The next week was horrifying for me. Everyone was treating me and Harry like we were attention hogs, Ron and Ginny had been tormenting me even more than usual. I had taken to starting to eat breakfast and lunch with my mom, and spending my free time in the library. This is where I was now. Hermione and I were sitting in a quiet area of the library when the Durmstrang champion Victor Krum walked over to us. "Do you mind if I sit?" He asked with a thick Russian accent. I looked at Hermione and she nodded. "Go ahead." The three of us sat quietly reading. It was actually quite nice. After a while I stood up and put my books away, saying goodbye to the two before walking out of the library.

I was walking down the hallways trying to ignore everyone glaring at me. Suddenly I bumped into someone. "Sorry Victoria." I heard Cedric say. I waved him off. "It's okay." I said quietly beginning to walk off. I was stopped by Cedric who grabbed my arm. "Listen Victoria. I just heard what the first task is gonna be." He said quietly. I looked up at him. "What is it?" I asked just as quietly. "Dragons." He said, letting me go. I nodded and began running to my mom's classroom. She was in the middle of teaching a class on muggle art but as soon as I walked in she told her students to work independently and gestured me into her office. I sat down and Salome slithered over to me. I rubbed her head as mom sat down. "What's wrong Victoria?" She asked. "I just learned the first task has something to do with dragons." I said. Mom nodded. "There's no need to worry about it. You'll do fine. You are the greatest serpent charmer that I've ever seen." She said, trying to reassure me. "But they're dragons, not serpents." I said quietly, looking down at my hands. Mom reached over and tilted my head up. She gave me a gentle smile. "You're a warrior Victoria. You'll be able to overcome any obstacles that is thrown at you." She said. I smiled. "Thank you mom." We spent he rest of the afternoon going over what I was going to do in the first task.

By the time the first task rolled around, I was beyond nervous. I was standing in a tent with Cedric, Harry and the other champions. Harry walked over. "So, are you ready?" He asked. I nodded. Suddenly I heard someone whisper something. "Harry? Victoria? Are you there?" I heard Hermione ask. "Yeah." Harry said. Hermione then dashed in the tent to hug us. Me first and then Harry. When she was hugging Harry there was a flash of a camera. "Ah, young love, how adorable." The reporter from the daily prophet said. I rolled my eyes about to tell her to leave but Victor got to it before me. "This tent is for champions and their friends, you are neither." He said. The reporter let out a huff and left. Hermione wished us both good luck as she left just as the professors and Mr. Crouch came in. Mr. Crouch held a cloth sack and gestured for us to all stand around it. He explained what the challenge was and gestured for Fleur to pick first. She got a welsh green with a two on its neck. Victor was next, with the Chinese fireball with a three. Then was Cedric, who got the Swedish short snout with the number one. Then Harry, who got the Hungarian horntail, and was number four. Finally was me. I reached in and pulled out the only remaining dragon in the bag, a beautiful white dragon with multicolored eyes with a number five around its neck.

 "Ah, the Antipodean Opaleye." Crouch said, closing the bag. "Good luck champions." He said as he and the professors left.

I sat nervously clutching my wand in my hand as one by one all the other champions went out to face their dragons. Finally it was just me and Harry in the tent. "Don't worry Victoria, I know you'll do great." He said as he was called. I nodded. "Good luck Harry." I said as he left. I sat in silence listening to the crowd's reactions to what was happening. Finally I was called out. I stood up and straightened my robes and walked out into the arena. I gulped as I looked up at the crowds around me. I saw Luffy, Mom and my friends cheering me on and I felt a bit more confident now. I saw the nest with the golden egg and I began to move towards it. Suddenly I heard a loud roar as I saw the Antipodean Opaleye jump in front of the nest, protecting it. I jumped back a little and held my hand out towards it. "I don't mean to hurt you or your little ones." I said, using my haki to help me. The dragon blinked its beautiful multicolored eyes in curiosity. "Just let me take that egg." I said, glancing at the shining gold egg. The dragon looked back at it and back at me. For a minute I thought the dragon would attack me, but it simply stepped aside for me. I rushed forward and grabbed the gold egg. The crowd cheered loudly at this and I looked at the dragon. "Thank you." I said. I was rushed off to the hospital tent where the other champions were, as well as a few friends. "That was amazing Victoria." I heard Claire say, she rushed forward to hug me. I smiled and hugged back. "Nice job little sister." Alec said with a grin. "You and Harry are tied for first, Karkaroff took some points off since you didn't use magic though." Hermione explained. I smiled and sat down. "I'm just glad it's over." I said. The tent flap opened up and mom and Luffy walked in. "Great job V! That was awesome!" Luffy said, hugging me tightly. I smiled. "You did fantastic." Mom said, kissing the top of my head.